Oare Marshes Latest Sightings

February 2008

Kent Wildlife Trust

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Reporting Your Sightings

To help keep this page as up-to-date and informative as possible, please send your sightings and any pictures taken onsite (please see 'Guidelines for submissions' on the KOS Photo Gallery for details of how to resize your pics etc.) to Chris Abrams by clicking here.

Species List for 2008

To view the complete list of species recorded so far this year please click here.

108 species have been recorded in the area so far this year.
    

February 28th

A cloudy morning with light easterly winds. There were four Long-tailed Tits in the scrub around the paddocks. 23 Ruff were present on the east flood, three Grey Partridges were in the field west of the path to Uplees, a Little Owl was on the concrete blocks again and a Common Buzzard was circling over Sheppey. 72 Avocets were gathered at the mouth of Faversham Creek.

(Geoff Burton)

February 27th

An afternnon visit at high tide. On the east flood there were two Little Stints, seven Ruff and a Greenshank. There were three Turnstones on the rocks east of the slipway, eight Pochard on the main drain on the west side, at least six Stonechats in the area including four together at the western end of the west flood. A Peregrine was on one of the pylons over Nagden Marshes and a Kingfisher was heard on the west side.

(Geoff Burton)

February 24th

(07:15-10:30) The cloud cleared away early on to leave a bright, breezy and fairly mild morning (wind a light SW). The Barn Owl was over the field east of the Harty Ferry Inn, plus a Sparrowhawk and female Marsh Harrier. I headed west along the seawall to Uplees - 3 Rock Pipits were noted on the way. The female Scaup was on the Swale again - circa 200 yards further west than yesterday, plus 22 Great Crested Grebes. Early on there were 976+ Golden Plovers roosting on the mud there, plus 18 Black-tailed Godwits and 11 Bar-tailed Godwits. A pair of Grey Partridges were on the sheepfields and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming inland. 2 Marsh Harriers were hunting around the West Flood. 10 Pochards were on the fleet west of the Watch House. 9 Black-tailed Godwits and 7 Bar-tailed Godwits were on the mud around the slipway, and 87 Avocets were roosting infront of the Sea Wall hide. Cetti's Warblers were singing near the carpark and Sea Wall hide. I only had time for a quick look at the East Flood - 22 Black-tailed Godwits were noted.

(Murray Wright)

February 23rd

(07:30-11:30) A mainly overcast morning, still first thing but with a brisk SW wind soon picking up. On the West Flood: 10 Gadwall, 1 Pochard and 24 Tufted Ducks. On the East Flood: 1 Ruff, 9 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Snipe, 2 Gadwall, 60 Pintail, 5 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Egrets, plus 2 male Marsh Harriers hunting around the perimeter. 84 Avocets were on the mud around the mouth of Faversham Creek, plus 21 Black-tailed Godwits and 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, and 9 Great Crested Grebes were on the Swale. A further 16 Avocets and 9 Black-tailed Godwits were just east of the slipway. A Common Buzzard was over Mocketts again. 9 Pochards were on the fleet to the west of the Watch House. A female Scaup was showing well on the Swale at Uplees diving around the Pretty Penny (the green yacht that's moored there) until 09:55 at least, however, it had disappeared on my return 20 minutes later. Also, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers (plus another flying west) and 13 Great Crested Grebes on the Swale there, a female Marsh Harrier crossed south, and 7 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Ringed Plover were on the mud. Circa 75 Wigeon were around the West Scrape.

(Murray Wright)

February 22nd

A cloudy morning with moderate SW winds. There were 49 Pintail on the east flood. A walk up to Dan's Dock revealed three Grey Partridges flushed from the saltmarsh near the dock, a male Sparrowhawk, which landed on a gate on the west side, and a female Merlin which landed in the elder bush on the west flood. Single Peregrines were seen over Mocketts Hill and on one of the pylons over Nagden Marshes.

(Geoff Burton)

February 21st

(08:00-11:30) A mainly cloudy morning with a brisk SW wind, but milder than recently. Fairly hard going this morning. A male Merlin was hunting over the west side. From the West Hide: 1 drake Gadwall, 5 Pochards, 11 Tufted Ducks and 2 male Marsh Harriers. On the East Flood: 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Grey Plovers, circa 75 Redshanks, 67 Pintail, 2 Pochard and 1 Little Egret. A single Greenshank was along Faversham Creek. 80 Avocets were roosting on the mud in front of the Sea Wall Hide, plus 9 Black-tailed Godwits. 3 Cetti's Warblers were singing between the sluice and the carpark. 13 Great Crested Grebes were on the Swale. 2 Common Buzzards were over Mocketts much of the morning. The leucistic Curlew was on the saltmarsh at Uplees, and circa 50 Curlews were on the sheepfields.

(Murray Wright)

February 19th

No bird news today but Mike Gould took this excellent shot of a Water Rail.

February 17th

(07:30-11:30) A hard overnight frost again with perhaps the lowest temperature so far this year (down to -5C at home), followed by a beautiful, bright, sunny and cloudless morning with no wind. Met up with Dick Bailey and Keith Privett. Little of interest from the West Hide or in the paddocks. The East Flood was again mainly frozen with many of the circa 500 Lapwings present sporting a light coating of frost. Also noted: 5 Ruff, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, several Snipe, 23 Golden Plover, 29 Pintail, 1 female Pochard, 6 Mute Swans, 5 Little Grebes and 1 Little Egret. The Barn Owl was hunting near the Harty Ferry Inn on Sheppey. The regular 2 Greenshanks were along the creek looking towards the Shipwright's Arms, plus 3 Black-tailed Godwits nearby. On the Swale there were four pairs of Red-breasted Mergansers, 31 Great Crested Grebes and circa 20 Cormorants, plus regular small flocks of Brent Geese flying west and a flock of circa 30 Golden Plovers flew north. A Cetti's Warbler was singing near the Sea Wall hide. On the mud by the slipway as the tide was falling: 9 Bar-tailed Godwits, 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Turnstone and small numbers of Dunlin and Redshanks. The Marsh Harrier was hunting over the west side again and circa 100 Wigeon were on the West Flood. One of the Little Owls was sunning itself near Dan's Dock. We relocated the Slavonian Grebe on the Swale at Uplees looking towards Spit End at Elmley, amongst a further 30+ Great Crested Grebes, and the first Red-throated Diver of the year flew west there; plus 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 6 Gadwall and good flocks of Wigeon and Teal. Amongst the waders on the mud at Uplees were 19 Bar-tailed Godwits, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, circa 100 Dunlin, 25 Grey Plovers and 1 Ringed Plover. Raptor activity looking towards Sheppey was poor with just a few Marsh Harriers noted. Also 5 Stonechats were around the reserve this morning. A very pleasant morning's birding.

(Dick Bailey, Keith Privett and Murray Wright)

February 16th

(07:30-11:15) A beautiful bright and sunny morning after a sharp overnight frost, with a stiff and cold E wind. I was joined for a couple of hours by Steve Clinch. On the mostly frozen East Flood: 1 Ruff, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Golden Plovers, circa 500 Lapwings, 4 Snipe, 2 Little Egrets, 2 Canada Geese, 12 Mute Swans, 8 Pochard, 11 Tufted Duck, 39 Pintail, 2 Gadwall, plus Mallard, Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon. Steve had a couple of brief views of 4 Bewick's Swans flying over Sheppey. No sign of the Slavonian Grebe on the Swale, however, there were more birds than recently: 10 Red-breasted Mergansers and 41 Great Crested Grebes, plus lots of Brent Geese flying west in small flocks. 83 Avocets were on the mud in front of the Sea Wall hide. A ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting over the field east of the Harty Ferry Inn. A single Knot was on the mud by the slipway, with 2 Rock Pipits and 11 Reed Buntings along the sea wall there. A single Little Owl was sheltering behind its usual concrete slab near Dan's Dock. The regular immature male Marsh Harrier was hunting around the reserve. A Fox was seen carrying off a Coot or Moorhen near the West Hide.

(Murray Wright)

February 15th

(Late afternoon) Sea Wall Hide   20+ Great Crested Grebes (no Slav unfortunately), 2 Red-breasted Mergansers 54 Avocet several hundred Brent geese moving downstream   East Flood from East Hide   A Merlin on the island immediately facing the Hide probably accounted for the total lack there of any other birds. Elsewhere on the Flood:   76 Pintail a very large number of Lapwing 1 Ruff 2 Golden Plovers 1 Redshank.

(Mike Stevens)

February 14th

(07:45-11:30) A grey, overcast and cold morning with a brisk ENE wind. Generally pretty quiet, but livened up mid-morning by the presence of a Slavonian Grebe on the Swale midway between the Watch House and Dan's Dock - an Oare year tick. 8 Great Crested Grebes and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers were also on the Swale. On the West Flood: 12 Snipe, 4 Pochard (1 drake), 19 Tufted Ducks and circa 25 Teal. On the East Flood: 1 Ruff, circa 500 Lapwings, 51 Pintail, 118 Teal, 55 Shovelers, circa 200 Wigeon, 9 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Egrets. A male Marsh Harrier was causing lots of commotion as it hunted around the reserve. 2 Rock Pipits and 9 Reed Buntings were on the rocks by the slipway.

(Murray Wright)

February 12th

(13.30-16.15) More in hope than anticipation, despite the prevailing thick fog I ventured out to the Marshes and to my surprise bumped into 4 or 5 other like minded lunatics. After about an hour the fog lifted and the Bearded Reedlings that had been pinging away in the murk could now be seen. In addition there were at least 12 Great Crested Grebes on the Swale - which is about 12 more than have been seen on several days recently - and a Ringtail east of Harty Church. The Jack Snipe was reported on the East flood in the same location as on Sunday (east end of the island immediately in front of the East Hide), apart from that while visibility remained I was able to confirm that ducks present were as usual i.e. Tufted, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler, Mallard and Teal; and that Redshank and Lapwing were fairly numerous with a couple of Little Egrets putting in an appearance as well as 2 Grey Herons; Water Rail being heard but not seen. Stonechat and Rock Pipit were also seen, the  former among the reeds and the latter on the Sea Wall.

(Mike Stevens)

February 11th
(09.00-17.30) Starting at the cottages, I noted a Jay in the scrub area, a number of Long Tailed Tits, 2 Green Woodpeckers and a fox basking in the morning sun. Thereafter there was not a lot to report ( Ringtail over Mockett's, 85 Avocet at the creek mouth, 4 Turnstones on the shoreline) until c high tide (1530) when there were 2 Little Stint on the East Flood, 147 Redshank and the Jack Snipe on the same island as yesterday, showing well for prolonged periods from the viewing pull-in. 'Nature red in tooth and claw' showed itself earlier when a fox appeared on the fields below the sea wall with a freshly killed duck. Off the site territory but perhaps worthy of note, 4 Short Eared Owls were reported west of Conyer Creek.
(Mike Stevens)

Also this morning: from the Sea Wall hide Mike Roser picked out 7 Bewick's Swans looking across to Sheppey at the start of the sea wall east of Harty church; at least 9 Bearded Tits were showing very well between the Sea Wall hide and the sluice.

(Murray Wright)

February 10th

(16.00-17.45) We visited this evening at high tide and a stunningly beautiful evening it was! We scanned the East flood and managed to locate a Little Stint and a single Dunlin.

As we walked around the East flood we met a birder named Gary Philpott who reporeted having excellent views of A Jack Snipe on the island in front of the East hide. It had been showing very well from the road but he saw it again from the hide. We proceeded around the flood but bird numbers were less than Murray reported although there was a flock of 40 Wigeon. From the East hide we managed to locate the Jack Snipe as it fed in a patch of reeds towards the left side of the island. It was, however, very difficult to see and usually showed only briefly before promptly disappearing.

A Cetti's Warbler sang near the car park.

(Chris and Annie Abrams, Tim Baldwin)

(07:15-11:15) A glorious cloudless and sunny morning with no wind and quite warm (up to 14C) after a sharp overnight frost. The birding wasn't quite as good as the weather! The Barn Owl was hunting east of the Harty Ferry Inn as usual. 27 Mute Swans were on the East Flood until circa 08:00 when they flew off east. Also on the East Flood this morning: 1 Knot, 15 Ruff, 4 Snipe, circa 300 Lapwings, 2 female Pochards, 22 Tufted Ducks, 56 Pintail, 4 Gadwall, plus Teal, Mallard, Shoveler and only a few Wigeon. A male Sparrowhawk flew across the East Flood disappearing behind the cottages. 2 Greenshanks were along Faversham Creek. A single Peregrine was on the pylons to the east. 87 Avocets were around the mouth of the creek, plus 7 Black-tailed Godwits flew east. 4 Bearded Tits were in the reeds near the Sea Wall hide. A Water Pipit showed well for circa 10 minutes on the West Flood, plus 6 Snipe, 2 female Pochards (same as on East Flood earlier) and 19 Tufted Ducks. A flock of circa 50 Knot were on the mud looking across from Dan's Dock, and circa 30 Curlews were on the sheepfields there. Not too much raptor activity looking across to Sheppey this morning - just 2 ringtail Hen Harriers and the Harris Hawk noted amongst the Marsh Harriers. Also this morning: 2 Little Egrets on the west scrape; 3 Rock Pipits near the slipway; 3 singing Cetti's Warblers and 3 pairs of Stonechat around the reserve.

(Murray Wright)

February 8th

(14.30-1700) A beautiful day at the Marshes; a pity that there were not more birds around! Mockett's area,   The inevitable Harris Hawk accompanied for a while by a ring - tail Harrier. Possibly the same ring- tail was later to be seen east of Harty church. Also good numbers of Marsh Harriers.   East Flood   At least 50 Ruff. And that was it!

(Mike Stevens)

February 7th

(13:00-15:30) A sunny and pleasantly mild afternoon with only a light SW wind. Fairly quiet: 5 Little Stints, 5 Grey plovers and 1 Dunlin on the East Flood; Kingfishers near the East Hide and under the sea sluice; 4 Red-breasted Mergansers on the Swale off Castle Coote; circa 40 Avocets flew west along the Swale; over Mocketts 2 Peregrines, 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, 1 Sparrowhawk and the Harris Hawk.

(Murray Wright)

February 6th

(07:45-12:45) Plenty of cloud early on which gradually broke and cleared to the east on the stiff WNW wind, leaving a fine, bright and sunny day. I was joined from 10:30 by Mike Stevens who stayed on after I left. A Rough-legged Buzzard (probably the juvenile) performed well over Mocketts most of the morning being joined at times by 2 Common Buzzards, plus 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, several Marsh Harriers, 1 or 2 Peregrines and the Harris Hawk. A Cetti's Warbler was singing well by the West Hide. 1 or 2 Redwings were in the paddocks early on, the first I've seen at Oare this year, and later on Mike had a Red-legged Partridge there. A Kingfisher was under the sea sluice again. At last I caught up with Little Stint of which there were 5 on the East Flood over high tide around midday. Also on the East Flood today: 2 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, 7 Grey Plovers, 3 Ruff, circa 75 Redshanks, 44 Pintails (a further 18 flew off north to Sheppey), 4 Gadwall, 49 Tufted Ducks, 18 Common Gulls and 1 Little Egret. Only 2 Greylag Geese were on the flood this morning, plus at least three being taken by the wildfowlers. Just 2 Avocets on the Swale this morning, plus 4 Red-breasted Mergansers and 8 Great Crested Grebes. We had a brief and poor view of a probable Water Pipit on the West Flood before it disappeared into the rushes and didn't reappear. 4 Common Snipe were also on the West Flood, and Mike had the Harris Hawk over the west side with a Marsh Harrier. 4 Turnstones were along the tideline near the slipway, plus 2 Rock Pipits, a pair of Stonechats, 1 Linnet and 6 Reed Buntings.

(Murray Wright)

February 4th

(08:00-11:00) A bright and sunny morning with a light SW wind. Fairly quiet and a lot fewer birds around than yesterday. A Peregrine flew low over the East Flood before heading back to the pylons. 2 female Pochards and two pairs of Gadwall were on the East Flood in addition to smaller numbers of all species noted on Sunday, and there were no Ruff. 7 Red-breasted Mergansers (3 males and 4 females) were on the Swale. There weren't any Avocets around the mouth of the creek. 6 Bearded Tits were in the reeds near the Sea Wall hide. 5 Snipe and 7 Redshanks were on the West Flood, plus a female Marsh Harrier hunting to the west. A pair of Kingfishers were zipping about calling noisily over the paddocks. The Barn Owl was hunting east of the Harty Ferry Inn again, plus a ringtail Hen Harrier and several Marsh Harriers over Mocketts.

(Murray Wright)

February 3rd

(07:30-11:00) A fine bright and breezy morning with a strong and chilly S wind. On the East Flood over a fairly low high tide: 21 Ruff, circa 50 Redshank, 1 Golden Plover, circa 300 Lapwings, 67 Pintail, circa 200 Teal, circa 100 Shovelers, 32 Tufted Ducks, 37 Greylag Geese and 1 Little Egret. A Kingfisher was under the sea sluice. 98 Avocets were at the mouth of Faversham Creek. 6 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Great Crested Grebes were on the Swale, plus 9 Black-tailed Godwits flew west. A single Canada Goose was on Horse Sands, plus an impressive gathering of up to 200 Cormorants. Over Sheppey: 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, several Marsh Harriers, 1 Peregrine and the Harris Hawk. 3 Bar-tailed Godwits and circa 100 Dunlin were on the mud around the slipway. 1 Little Egret and 6 Tufted Ducks were on the West Flood.

(Murray Wright)

February 1st

(08:30-12:00) Breezy and a touch nippy but otherwise a splendid morning. Cottages area: 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kevin Duvall reported a Bullfinch. Dan's Dock: Little Owl. On the Swale off Uplees copse: 2 Great Crested Grebes, and a large mixed flock of Brents and Cormorants which came up river with at least 96 of the Cormorants putting down near Spitend while more continued their upstream progress. Mockett's Hill area: a Rough-legged Buzzard was at the foot of the hill, plus the Harris Hawk and numerous Marsh Harriers. I didn't get to the Sea Wall Hide but reports were not encouraging and a quick look at the East Flood suggested that there was nothing to be seen that hadn't been seen yesterday nor that numbers had greatly changed.  

(Mike Stevens)